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Homestead Barn Hop #139

“Cultivating the Homestead Community”

If I had one word to describe this past week, it would be COLD! The temperature plummeted on Tuesday, and have hovered below zero ever since. Let’s just say it’s been a looooong week of milking in the -20 below temps and chopping ice… It’s made me very thankful that we have a barn for the animals to stand in–especially Miss Oakley. 🙂 It’s supposed to warm up a little this week, and I’m pretty sure than ever 10 degrees will feel like a heat wave compared to what we’ve been dealing with!

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I’m happy to be here posting about how to figure out if you have food allergies/sensitivities this week. The method is cheap and easy to do, even with small children. I used it with my son before he was a year old!

I live in Northern California and it has been below freezing almost every night for a week! I think my lemon and orange trees are pretty sad. I hope they don’t die! 🙁
Thanks for hosting this fun hop. Have a great week!

Hello on Monday morning. It is cold here too. I can feel you shiver. It is not as cold here, only in the
teens and 20’s. We had our first big snow on 12/6 and then slick conditions They scraped and
sanded our hills this AM which made things a little better. We live on a small farm with 4 goats–1 quarter horse–5 minature horses — 2 minature donkeys–chickens–quail–and 3 dogs. We are retired
and they keep us busy. Now plowing a path to the barns goes into the mix of things to do. Oh what
fun it is!!!

Last night we brought the two LGD’s (Livestock Guardian Dogs) in the house for the night because of the Ice storm we were/ are still having. We put the goats in their barn and kept them inside last night too… they seem to prefer sleeping outside, even during bad weather. I have a decent barn that offers good protection from the elements.with lots of straw bale bedding. there is even a side pen, separate from the main pasture that they can come and go into for grass, hay and water. The dogs have a nice secure Dog Condo i built for them when we first got Sage 2 months go. They don’t sleep in it either and prefer to sleep in loose hay in the middle of the field or under a tarp canopy.
i brought the dogs back to the main pasture this morning when the Sage, the Male guardian dog (Anatolian Shepherd went straight through a large hole in our fence. ‘Something’ came in the fence last night and shredded 5 feet of wire mesh goat fence. well, both my dogs were now loose and roaming the woods behind the barn. Susan was already out in the fields walking the tree line calling for them when she heard 3 gun shots…. out immediate thought was some hunter just shot our two wayward dogs. I was busy patching the fence so the goats wouldn’t get out too when i heard the shots.
a few minutes later out from the tree line the dogs came running like a white blur… Grace is an all white, Great Pyrenees. ‘Sage’, (who I call George…. as in George and Gracie) is fawn colored with black mask came running right behind her and back to the pasture. I spent the next our and half out in the freezing sleet and rain patching the fence with panels of wire mesh . Thank God for ‘Zip Ties’ ……. lol
time for home made hot soup and some hot chocolate.

This week I’m sharing Sweet & Savory Sweet Potato Stew… just the thing for chilly winter evenings. (As I type this, I am listing to the wind howl, and watching the rain trying to decide it if wants to turn into snow!)

Hey, we’re getting 3-5 inches tonight. I guess if it’s cold we might as well have snow to play in. 🙂
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[…] And remember, sleds aren’t just for winter use. Mine is in use all year hauling yard debris, soil amendments to the garden and branches for the goats to nibble. This post has been shared at the Homestead Barn Hop. […]